MWC 2009: HTC overview

HTC Magic (HTC Sapphire)

HTC waited for the second day of the World Mobile Congress 2009 to announce their second Android-based phone. The new device is called HTC Magic and it's going to be exclusive to Vodafone. Its design bears distinct resemblance to its predecessor - the HTC Dream only this time the slide-out QWERTY keyboard is sacrificed in order to achieve lighter weight and a slimmer silhouette.

HTC Magic all over

The HTC Magic is basically an HTC Dream without the keyboard. The codenamed behind the HTC Magic seems to be the HTC Sapphire, that leaked in the HTC 2009 Roadmap not while ago. As the roadmap seems quite credible, we are probably going to see a T-Mobile exclusive version as well.

The fully Touch operated HTC Magic sports a 3.2-inch display touchscreen display, much like its QWERTY-enabled sibling HTC Dream. It also comes with quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band UMTS support as well as GPS and Wi-Fi.

HTC Magic trackball and keys • the left side and the camera section

Other features that HTC Magic shares with its predecessor are a 3 megapixel auto focus camera, Bluetooth with and USB connectivity. It also runs on the same Qualcomm 7201A platform with a 528MHz CPU and has 192MB of RAM. The ROM memory of the Magic measures 512 MB which is twice the size of the ROM of the Dream.

Here are a couple of comparison shots of Magic and iPhone 3G.

Apple iPhone 3G next to the HTC Dream

You will notice that the HTC Magic is quite more compact than its predecessor HTC Dream (or T-Mobile G1 if you like).

HTC MAX 4G

Another interesting device we spotted at the HTC booth is the HTC MAX 4G. The WiMAX-enabled high-end device is exclusive for Yota WiMAX network in Russia. The handset is an HTC Touch HD replica with its 3G stripped and added WiMAX support. But there are several more new goodies on board.

HTC MAX 4G in our hand • MAX 4G compared to iPhone 3G

HTC MAX 4G has 8GB of user storage and a proximity sensor for auto screen turn-off during calls - much like on the iPhone. The weight and dimensions remain nearly the same, but the MAX 4G is almost 2mm thicker than Touch HD. Again unlike the Touch HD, the MAX 4G has a 3 megapixel only camera.